Despite the day starting with a beautiful sun on the Circuit de Jerez – Ángel Nieto, it kicked off in the worst way possible for the Tech3 KTM Factory Racing team. Following his medical inspection this morning, Raul Fernandez was declared unfit to ride at the Gran Premio Red Bull de España. After missing out on the Portuguese Grand Prix last week, the Spaniard will miss his home Grand Prix due the right hand injury caused by his crash last Saturday. At the moment, he will be unable to participate in the test session scheduled on Monday in Jerez. 

Australian Remy Gardner will therefore once again carry Tech3 KTM Factory Racing’s hopes this weekend. After a positive first test session back in November, the rookie jumped back on his KTM RC16 on the iconic Circuito de Jerez – Ángel Nieto. This track being a regular destination for testing, many riders know it so well, explaining why times were fast straight away this morning when the Free Practice 1 kicked off at 9:55 local time (GMT+2), for forty-five minutes. Remy did three runs and eventually got his best lap time on the third one with the slick-medium Michelin tyres, in 1’39.700. He finished 21st at 1.506 seconds from the top, while the nineteen first riders had less than one second separating them from each other.

In the afternoon, times logically went down for everyone, and the second free practice session remained so close, with the sixteen first riders having less than one second separating them. Remy did another set of the three runs, and managed to get his time going down to 1’38.353, on lap 18, in which he improved all his sectors with a slick-hard tyre at the front, and a slick-soft at the rear. He finished the day in P23, and will look to continue improving tomorrow when FP3 starts at 9:55 local time in order to get ready for the qualifying sessions.

Remy Gardner

Position: 23rd

Time: 1'38.853

Laps: 39

"Today has been a tough day but it has not been so bad in the end. We did a lot of laps and tried a few things, but the times were really tight. Everyone is so close to each other because all riders are so fast in Jerez as this is a circuit that we all know very well.  I am hoping that we can go faster tomorrow in order to improve my position."